4 days each in London and Paris
 

We'll be traveling to London arriving Nov. 10, 2017 and leaving for Paris on Nov. 14, 2017. We are in our early fifties and this will be our first time in Europe. Can someone suggest an itinerary for us in each city? We'll go to all the popular places within London and Paris. One question I have is should we buy a London Pass or Paris Pass? Your response is highly appreciated.

Judy

I like the Paris Museum Pass to avoid ticket lines. You will still have to wait in security lines. You can also map out the museums and places you want to see so you can group them together. You will want to visit places that are close together to avoid criss-crossing all over town. You can buy a 2, 4 or 6 day pass but it has to be used on consecutive days.

The popular places differ depending on who you ask and what you enjoy (museums, food, wine, churches, architecture, fashion, shopping).

The Eiffel Tower is not included on the Paris Museum Pass. I have never been up in it but it isn't my thing.

We loved climbing the towers at Notre Dame. Saint Chapelle is wonderful. Musee d'Orsay, Musee Marmottan, and L'Orangerie are my favorite museums but I love Impressionism. I also love Saint Denis. It's a bit of a Metro ride but is the burial place of French Kings and we really enjoyed it.

If you want to experience a variety of cheese, chocolate, charcuterie, bread, wine then check out the food tours offered by Paris by Mouth. Great way to see a neighborhood while sampling wonderful French foods with wine. They only take very small groups on each tour. We have done two of them and really enjoyed them both.

I love the food hall at Le Bon Marche...it's kind of heaven. I recommend ending every night with a glass of Champs! I love Paris. Click on my name to find my trip reports for more of what we have done in Paris and enjoyed. Enjoy the trip and the planning.

Do you know where you will stay?

Do not buy the London Pass. And you need to scale back your expectations of seeing "all the popular places" in your 3 plus a little bit in London. Seeing 2-3 main sites per day plus a bit more is reasonable goal.

You will get bit more help probably if you give a bit more info about what you're interested in. London has it all, spread out over a vast and varied area, so...

My suggested top things are the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, the National Gallery, St. Paul's, some parks, some bridge-walking, some shopping, some theatre. And then there's the next tier of great things, and then there are the things that after 7 trips, I still haven't gotten to.

We found a museum pass helpful in Paris.

No to either tourist-oriented pass that includes things you may never use- if going to enough Paris museums and paid-entry sights look at the Paris Museum Pass which also offers priority entrance to popular ones -also covers Versailles Palace:

http://en.parismuseumpass.com/

buy at participating museums or sights

Most people find buying a carnet (10 at a time which can be shared by anyone) from ticket machines or ticket windows in metro station the best way to pay for the metro - there are passes but most will not be traveling on metro enough to worry about them.

London museums are mainly free and only thing transit-wise you may want to buy is either an Oyster Card or TravelCards issued by national rail stations in London so you can get 2 for 1 entry at many paying sights:

https://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london - if arriving at Gatwick a paper return ticket will be fine - Heathrow trains don't qualify so buy a paper train ticket or travel card between any two London stations - sounds cumbersome but should save a ton of money at places like Tower of London- well see what is covered and where yous are going.

https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/oyster/entry.do

Note Visitor Oyster Card is most say overpriced for what it gives. There are many who know more about that but here are the official sites where you can learn how the various schemes work.

London to Paris by Eurostar -buy those tickets way early too - www.eurostar.com for huge discounts over just showing up. Check www.seat61.com for adroit advice on that.

I recommend either purchasing or going to your local library to get a guidebook for each city. Four days in each city will give you a nice visit but you won't be able to visit everything and will need to narrow your choices based on what interests you.

I like Rick Steves guidebooks for first time visitors but there are other good ones as well.

<<Can someone suggest an itinerary for us in each city? We'll go to all the popular places within London and Paris.>>

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Good luck with that. You'll be lucky to hit 1/2 of "all the popular places within London and Paris" if you had a fortnight in each.

How can anyone decide YOUR itinerary when you have divulged NONE of your interests?

Get maps, group attractions as much as you can - saves time traveling between them. No reason to see the Eiffel Tower and the Pompidou Center (if you must) on the same day when they're completely across the city from each other. Nor should you try to hit the Tower and Kensington Palace on the same day.

<<One question I have is should we buy a London Pass or Paris Pass?>>

<b>There is no way on G-d's green Earth that you should purchase a London Pass</b>

If that's unclear: don't get a London Pass.

You can get discounts for the places that charge entry fees by purchasing tickets in advance on line.

You can go to London and fill all four of your days (3-plus, really; not four) with sites that don't charge admission (although you'd miss Westminster Abbey and the Tower) - Brit Library, Brit Museum, the Tates, Imperial War Museum, V&A, the two National Galleries, the National Maritime Museum, etc. Thus, why would you pay a preposterous price for a pass that will gain admission to those same places that cost you nothing?

BTW: phooey on the editors or whomever who automatically made my post saying do NOT get a L*nd*n Pass provide a link to the website that will sell you the exact thing I told the OP is a waste of her bloody cash.

What's with that?

the wonders of the Internets- things I post about I invariably get ads for some of those things - targeted I guess by word matching -figuring you're interested so may buy by word association. One reason these types of sights are drawing ad moneys.

>> We'll go to all the popular places within London and Paris. <<

Nope -- unfortunately. You have 3 usable days Nov 11-13 in London (you <i>might</i> have a few usable hours on the 10th but w/ immigration, transport and potential jet lag don't count on any major sightseeing on your arrival day.) In 3 full days you will only get to perhaps 6 or 7 major sites and maybe a few 'minor-ish' ones. So you will need to be VERY selective what to fit in. Since there are enough major sites to fill a month you need to get a guidebook or two to help you winnow things down

Same in Paris really - though Paris is much smaller and the 'tourist area' is more compact. You won't spend as much time traveling around so you might squeeze in a few extra 'biggies' there.

If it isn't clear so far: <B><red>DO NOT</B></red> buy the London Pass ;)

And like Big Russ says . . . ignore the automatic LP link . . .

I'm so glad I have an ad-blocker, so I don't see the London Pass link.

I had no idea blue text was so offensive.

It isn't the blue color that is the problem. Fodors software sometimes installs unintended links within posts.

In this case the blue London Pass takes one to the LP website (which we all advise agains buying)

Kathie : I have an ad blocker but the LP is a hot link

Hi, Denisea, thanks for your information. We'll be staying at Marceau Bastille Hotel in Paris. We love to sample food but we don't drink. Is it still worth buying the Paris by Mouth Pass?

Paris By Mouth is a tour group of 6 people led by a knowledgeable guide.
You can go to their website to see which tours appeal to you.
You do not have to drink anything but water, if you don't want to.

Look on the right side of the page to see the calendar and if anything appeals to you.
These tours are wildly popular, so you might be too late.

http://parisbymouth.com/our-guide-to-paris-restaurants/


The Paris Museum Pass offers discounts for entries to certain museums. Make sure what you want to see is included.
You can purchase the Paris Museum Pass at the Tourist Info at the airport or at any other museum.

http://en.parismuseumpass.com/

Fuzzbucket is correct....if you want to sample food but not wine don't feel obligated to drink the wine. We enjoyed the Paris by Mouth tour conducted in the Marais tremendously. You will also learn about the history of the neighborhood as well as the food.